Idea for a game clock

[AdamH]

People who play slowly, the way to detect that is to average game lengths, for matched-with-strangers games only

I agree with you in theory, but it seems to me that in order for this to actually work, you'd need a HUGE sample size. I'm thinking a few hundred of these games, for this statistic to start being accurate.

Do I have a better idea? Nope, not right now :P

[jsh]

(In response to Donald's "what have other games done?")

I've suggested this many times, but will suggest it again. Pokemon Showdown has an awesome battle timer that I think would fit Dominion pretty well. Games begin with no timer, but if a player determines they want the game to be timed they can click "Request timer." (There should probably be some customization here instead of a default) Players get a bank of time, let's say 5 minutes, which starts ticking off. When they take actions/complete a turn, the clock either stops or they get some time back. If the timer runs out, the opponent can request a resignation.

If you want to see what I mean, you can play a Challenge Cup game here without much time investment: http://play.pokemonshowdown.com/

Is this perfect? Probably not, but I do think it's a very good system to at least take inspiration from. Players who don't want a timer can choose not to use it, and it's easy enough to stay in the game by simply using actions etc.

[SkyHard]

I cannot fathom how a first turn would ever require four minutes

It all depends on how deep you think. Think about chess (or go), if you only think ahead one half movement, you won't ever think more than a few seconds or minutes. However, if you think ahead many turns, you will take much longer. (For Dominion, I haven't gotten that far. I only play more or less intuitively and thus quite fast).

[TheDetour]

I cannot fathom how a first turn would ever require four minutes

It all depends on how deep you think. Think about chess (or go), if you only think ahead one half movement, you won't ever think more than a few seconds or minutes. However, if you think ahead many turns, you will take much longer. (For Dominion, I haven't gotten that far. I only play more or less intuitively and thus quite fast).

To be clear, my position is thinking about the entire game, through end-game exceptionally thoroughly still should take far LESS than four minutes and likely less than three on the first turn.

[AdamH]

I cannot fathom how a first turn would ever require four minutes

It all depends on how deep you think. Think about chess (or go), if you only think ahead one half movement, you won't ever think more than a few seconds or minutes. However, if you think ahead many turns, you will take much longer. (For Dominion, I haven't gotten that far. I only play more or less intuitively and thus quite fast).

To be clear, my position is thinking about the entire game, through end-game exceptionally thoroughly still should take far LESS than four minutes and likely less than three on the first turn.

Dude, this is exceptionally narrow-minded. After some people, including the designer of the game, have told you that it sometimes takes more than 4 minutes without any kind of slow playing, you're still holding onto this assertion that it should always take less. That is ridiculous, you can't possibly speak for everyone who could possibly play the game.